While the German Davis Cup team stormed to victory in the group and thus to the knockout stage even without Alexander Zverev in Hamburg, the event in the Hanseatic city was not necessarily well received abroad. A top player from France finds clear words.
“What a tennis week! Thank you everyone for your passion and support in Hamburg, Valencia, Bologna and Glasgow,” tweeted the official Davis Cup account on Monday.
Words that sound like mockery to Nicolas Mahut. “Passion and support … in Hamburg? Seriously?!!! We really don’t have the same definition there,” reacted the French doubles specialist, who played against the DTB team in Hamburg, among others, after narrow defeats against Germany and Australia as well as a win against Belgium, however, only took third place in the preliminary round group C.
Mahut received support from his compatriot Julian Benneteau, who also criticized the tweet.
In fact, the organizers at Hamburg’s Rothenbaum have had to put up with criticism on several occasions. Especially the games without German participation took place almost in front of empty ranks. The reason given was the high ticket prices. These were around 65 euros.
DTB star was “scared”
“I was shocked when I saw the ticket price,” said DTB star Jan-Lennard Struff after his 6: 4, 2: 6, 7: 5 against Frenchman Benjamin Bonzi. “That was the problem,” said Struff, looking at the prices and the lack of spectators. “It was absolutely understandable that there probably wouldn’t be that many fans coming because it’s just brutally expensive, and I think that’s a shame.”
“The organizer of a Davis Cup match bears the entire financial risk in addition to organizing the event and has to finance it almost exclusively from the income from the entrance fees,” Herwig Straka, CEO of the Emotion Group, justified the prices to “Bild”.
At the other three locations, however, access was significantly cheaper. The cheapest ticket costs 25 euros in Valencia, 16.50 euros in Bologna and the equivalent of around 12 euros in Glasgow.